I interviewed Chandler Thomasson who came to Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, with his wife Alice. Alice is vice-president of Habitat for Humanity in Morgan County, Ohio. (Koinonia is the birthplace for Habitat for Humanity and it’s national headquarters is several miles away from here.) Alice was here for a Habitat conference and Chandler did some volunteer work on the Koinonia Farm. He is a retired school pyshcologist and a U.S. Navy veteran who was on the USS Shangrala aircraft carrier in the waters around Cuba during the “Cuban Missile Crisis” during the Kennedy Administration. He said at the time he believed the patriotic addage: “Our country right or wrong.” And he said: “Hopefully you were never asked to kill, but if you were — you were willing to do that.” He said, however, since then his thinking has changed. He’s had children of his own and now has grandchildren. “I don’t think investing children in war is a good idea (now),” Chandler said. What’s more, he said of the innocent people that are killed that they can never be considered “collateral damage.” He said over the years, he has become much more inclined toward “peaceful resolution.” Note: With Chandler’s background as a counselor, he has worked for the organization “Passionate Friends,” which is for parents who have lost a child. And Chandler said he is convinced unless someone has lost a child themselves, there is no way they can truly empathize with a parent who has.
1/19/06
I interviewed Felix Lohitai who was at Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, to look at part of the history of the American Civil Rights Movement. Lohitai is in the Peace Studies Program at Manchester College in Indiana. (Koinonia was at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement when a group of Whites and Blacks started living and working together in Christian Community — in the mid 1940s in a highly segragated South.) Lohitai said he has experienced his own segregation. He’s from South Sudan. And he said the Arab Muslims in North Sudan were quite prejudiced toward the Africans living in the South. As a result, there was a good deal of oppression that led to a lot of poverty in the South and little access to higher education, said Lohitai. In turn, a rebel army (SBLA) started up in the South to fight the oppression, and to fight for the basic rights of those in the South. Lohitai joined the SBLA, became a Second Lieutenant Platoon Commander and fought for eight years. And up until last year, the conditions were so horrendous that world bodies and humanitarian aid agencies were starting to call what was going on in Sudan: “genocide.” Lohitai, his wife and six children fled the country several years ago and have refugee status in the U.S. Lohitai is in both the Peace Studies and Sociology streams at Manchester College. At the end of his studies, his plan is to take what he’s learned back to his country to help build as solid a base as possible: in peace. Note: We propose a U.S. Department of Peace that would help subsidize many ‘Felix Lohitais’ (from any country) to get as much education as possible in building peace at institutions like Manchester College. As I listened to Lohitai, I also couldn’t help but think if more Americans had helped finance modest “Habitat for Humanity” homes in South Sudan, for instance , more humanitarian aid in the form of food, clothing, medicine in South Sudan, more education opportunities in South Sudan… we not only could have maybe averted a war (and attendant genocide); but we could have also helped a society become a lot more sustainable. And that would be another proactive world-wide thrust of the Department of Peace we propose.
1/18/06
The Koinonia Farm experience continues… I was interviewed for Koinonia’s newsletter the “Cotton Patch News.” One of the questions: What are your views on politics and religion? Answer: “Politics should be an extension of one’s spirituality. That is, I take my spiriutality into my family, into my work place, into my politics… For instance, I am Catholic and believe strongly in church teaching about proactive social justice and environmental stewardship. As a result, we volunteer with Catholic Workers in Clevleand to help the poor, and we cut back considerably on water, heat and air conditioning to help the environment. And my political platform reflects this as well. As just one example, we’d turn the White House into a homeless shelter and create a permacutlure (organic garden, free range chickens, wildlife habitat area, wind turbine…) throughout the White House grounds. [Wouldn’t that be fun?]
1/17/06
I interviewed Bren Dubay who is the Director of Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia. Koinonia is an “Intentional Christian Community,” with people living and working together on a 573-acre pecan farm. (Koinonia was started by the late author Clarence Jordan, who had Blacks and Whites living and working together on the farm as early as the mid-1940s in a highly segregated South. It became the “backwater version of Montgomery, Alabama” in the height of the Civil Rights Movement. And Jordan went on to write the “Cotton Patch” series, a collection of modern day gritty, southern interpretations of the Bible.) Bren Dubay, a writer herself, was the “Playwrite in Residence” at Rice University. Several years ago, she came to Koinonia for a visit and got hooked on the spiritual ethos of the place. “There’s a sacredness here,” she said… And there is a rythm. Each day Koinonia members meet for morning devotional in an old chapel on the grounds, then disperse for various jobs around the farm. A bell sounds for 10:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. prayer. The community eats noon meal together, followed by another devotional as one of the members (it rotates) shares some of their own personal takes on spirituality (a reading, some personal thoughts, a prayer). The work and prayer, for the most part, are at a slow, steady pace — with members taking the time to regularly stop, chat. By contrast, Bren notes that society at large these days seems tremendously accelerated as we “fill up on consumerism, work, activities…” Bren said to live in community is to live part of the gospel message. “God is in community,” she said. Bren, who also is a trained spiritual advisor, spends her days in prayer, talking to community members about spiritual matters, helping formulate ongoing vision for the community, handling business matters, with, again, one eye always on the spiritual mission of Koinonia… Conversely, she said often her CEO counterparts out in the world, if they have a spiritual life, will often practice it in a sort of “extra-curricular” fashion. That is, they’ll (for instance) go to church on Sunday, but not take much, if any, spirituality into the work place on Monday. Bren said that Koinonia’s over-arching vision is to “live Christianity as oulined by Jesus.” And she added to live it that way is inherently to be: “radical.”
1/16/06
For Martin Luther King Jr. Day today, my family and I road in a Koinonia Farm float in a parade through downtown Americus, Georgia, in the heart of the “Deep South.” As mentioned in an earlier journal entry, Koinonia Farm was the “backwater” Montgomery, Alabama of the Civil Rights Movement — starting in 1942. It was that year Clarence Jordan, his wife and another couple started Koinonia Farm as an “Intentional Christ Community” where Whites and Blacks would live and work together as equals — in a highly segregated South. The backlash was volatile (intimidating protests by the KKK, economic boycotts of the farm, regular drive-by shootings…). Yet Jordan didn’t back down through it all, and eventually things changed. Sort of… During the parade today in Americus, Blacks lined the city streets. There were, at best, only a handful of whites. Koinonia’s parade vehicle was the only one that had a mix of Blacks and Whites. The other parade vehicles had all Blacks. While the parade was festive, the lack of White participants and spectators was more than a bit conspicuous. And representative, I believe, of how far we haven’t come. That is, we still have so many almost “all White” neighborhoods and almost “all Black” neighborhoods thread throughout the country. As there are so many almost “all White” churches and “all Black” churches… Just look around, objectively. We’re still, on a lot of levels, tremendously segregated in the South — and in the North. For instance, significant numbers of Blacks are stuck [read: segregated] in inner city and rural poverty loops… So, how do we integrate more? One answer: More suburban Whites need to take the initiative to move back into the cities and live side by side with Blacks. In Lima, Ohio, we learned about a church that’s members were moving into the heart of a poorer area of the city to be more involved there. In Cleveland, Ohio, an enclave of White “Catholic Workers” have moved to W. 38th Street, near the heart of the city, to become “neighbors” with Blacks, Hispanics, Whites…(in a physical and spiritual sense). Note: Most of us look back on “official” racial segregation with disgust, even repugnancy. Yet if we look into our often homogenous neighborhoods, or for that matter our oten relatively homogenous lives (no real Black friends, an all White church…), many of us haven’t come all that far in really realizing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “dream.” Or maybe even God’s, huh. Koinonia Farm here is an “Intentional Christian Community” with a good mix of Blacks and Whites. Intentional being the operative word. That is, they have continually “worked” at community, “worked” at integration. And for more integration, more racial equality, to happen in American society, we (both White and Black) have to “work” at it in our own lives. Maybe celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day could include, not only the parade, but “intentionally” inviting someone of another race out to lunch — as the beginning to developing a new friendship. Or better yet, after the parade you could: move into another neighborhood. Note 2: Yesterday, the Americus Times Record reported that in Sumter County here, which is split about 50/50 when it comes to Black and White population, 74% of the students in the public school system are Black, and 22% are White. This means a significant number of White students are either in private school, or are going out of Sumter County to primarily Schley County’s public school system (at $1,250 a year). Incidentally, if you haven’t guessed, Schley county is decidedly more White, as are the private schools.
1/14/06
More from the last week at Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia: Koinonia community member Ann Karp reported on a trip she took to the “Open Door” in Atlanta. This is a home for the homeless run by, for the most part, former homeless people. Ms. Karp said she was most moved by a “foot washing” night meant to emulate when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. Because it was the year 2006, however, this foot washing included pumice, nail clippers, an electric device to break down callouses (“Homeless people are on their feet a lot,” said Ms. Karp), an electric vibrating foot massager… Later in the night it turned cold and started to rain. Some of the people whose feet were done this evening, were now sleeping under a makeshift, cardboard awning in the back of the “Open Door” because there was no more room inside. Ms. Karp said the scene really impacted her. [A spiritual irony: We house cars in this country, while people sleep on city streets.]… I gave a talk to a youth group at St. Mary’s Church, several miles from Koinonia. I talked about the tremendous disparity in lifestyles between most of us in America and most of those in the Third World. One girl said her parents bought her a $200 coat for Christmas. I said that amount would feed a relatively large family in most Third World villages — for a year. She then said she felt “embarassed.” I said: “good.” What’s more, I suggested she explain to her parents, in detail, what we’d talked about this evening as well. Including the fact that some 24,000 people starve to death (U.N. figure) every day in the Third World. Note: With the world the way it is these days, this is no time for soft placating messages.
1/10/06 to 1/13/06
Recap: We have spent the week at the Koinonia Community in Southwest Georgia. It is a group of Christians living in intentional community on a pecan farm here. They are trying to model how the early Christians were inspired to live… For us, it has been a whirlwind of experiences and stimulating thought. Koinonia community member Tom Monaham showed me the tape of a lecture by author Noam Chomsky, who writes extensively on American foreign policy. In a lecture at Stanford University, Chomsky said America often blocks the “democratization” of other countries who have dictators (no matter how ruthless), if that dictator is friendly to American interersts — especially in respect to access to oil reserves… I then gave a talk to Koinonia members and some people who were here from Manchester College’s (in Indiana) Peace Studies Program. At one point in the talk, I said many in this country complain about President Bush’s decision not to sign the Kyoto Protocol to help curb greenhouse gasses in this country. But I wondered how many of those complaining had made personal lifestyle choices to, in effect, create “Kyoto Protocol Home Zones.” That is, how many of these same people are cutting back significantly on their driving, air conditioning, heating, length of showers? (All these contribute to the burning of fossil fuels — a lot of that being oil — that cause global warming.) And for that matter, how many people have considered house sharing in order to share items (often made by buring fossil fuels), share heated air, and the like? The point: By the average person in the U.S. continuing on in our gluttonous energy ways in the U.S., not only are we contributing tremendously to environmental degradation; but we are also contributing tremendously to the continuation of human rights violations in the countries with the cruel dictators who are friendly to U.S. oil (and other natural resource) interests. Note: Many a theologian would say foreign human rights violations caused, ultimately, by our gluttonous lifestyles here would simply be considered: “unintended consequences.” And they would assign little, if any, spiritual culpability. Yet if someone has ‘connected the international dots’ for us, and we’ve learned that these are, in fact, some of the consequences…
1/9/06
Several days ago we had stopped in Rome, Georgia where we met with Tom Farmer. Farmer has studied the writings of G.K. Chesterton at length and informed us about the American Chesterton Society. One of the things Chesterton championed was “distributism,” a third way of economic order (besides socialism and capitalism). It is a concept that comes out of Catholic Church teaching about social justice and emphasizes that: “the ownership of the means of production should be spread as widely as possible among the populace.” Simply put, as many people as possible should be able to own businesses (either individually, or in a “co-op” way) so there is a good measure of economic and social parity. The opposite of this, in one sense, would be the current trend in American society toward corporate mergers, big box retailers like Wal-Marts, etc. This idea was adopted by the Catholic Worker movement in respect to their decentralized vision of many more localized and indpendent communities that were highly interdependent. Note: Our Economic Philosophy very much reflects the concept of distributism. See “what joe stands for,” then click on: Economy. Also, there is a Chesterton Society group at St. Mary’s Church in Rome, Georgia, as there are throughout the country. For more on the society, see: www.chesterton.org — The American Chesterton Society (Common Sense for the World’s Uncommon Nonsense).
1/8/08
We have come to the Koinonia Community on the outskirts of Americus, Georgia. Established in 1942, this is a group of Christians living together in community around a pecan farm. Former President Jimmy Carter, who lives 10 miles away in Plains, Georgia, called Koinonia: “…a beacon for Civil Rights for those who believed in racial equality.” Koinonia was started by the late Reverend Clarence Jordan, his wife and another couple. Soon, they were doing the unheard of in the south. Blacks and Whites were living and working together in community on the farm. Andrew Young, the former mayor of Atlanta (and first major city Black mayor), called Koinonia the “backwater” Montgomery (Alabama) of the Civil Rights Movement. Koinonia quickly became a lightening rod for protests, boycotts and violence (scores of drive by shootings, as an example), as many rallied, including the KKK, to shut Koinonia down. Yet through it all, Jordan remained firm in his beliefs and would not back down. And eventually, the climate changed. Note: Clarence Jordan has been described as being on “the cutting edge of the prophetic.” And in his life, Jordan also wrote a series of books (Cotton Patch Gospel, The Substance of Faith & Other Cotton Patch Sermons, etc…) that were modern-day, common sense translations of the Bible. Books that have been read by many across the country.
1/7/06
Traveled to Americus, Georgia where we toured Habitat for Humanity’s “Global Village” and interviewed site manager Linda Mills. Habitat volunteers from all over the country have come and built a mock, Third World slum here. Cracker box, one-room dwellings are slapped together with rusty, corrigated tin, old boards and other things gleaned from dumps and the side of the road. (Just like it is gleaned in the Third World.) At the time of the tour, it was 15 degrees with the wind chill. And the wind whipped through open wooden slats and open windows (because there is no glass). It swirled around bunk beds made of rough tree limbs and small boards, no matresses and dirty blankets. The only thing that is missing, said Ms. Mills, is the sound of “crying and dying babies.” (“Children living in poverty [like this] are five times more likely to die by age 5,” a sign here reads. And there are “1.2 billion” people in the world living in “absolute poverty” like this.)… Coming out of the slums, you are greeted with a stark contrast. Nice, colorful (yet modest by American standards) homes line the next part of the path. Habitat volunteers have built a series of homes that replicate the Habitat Homes going up in other countries. There is a stucco design for Mexico, a two story, wooden frame Sri-Lankan home, a one-story brick home like ones going up in Tanzania… Ms. Mills said Habitat “Volunteer Vacation (Building) Trips” go to more than 50 countries now to work with local people to help them get out of the slums — one house at a time. Habitat has built 2 million homes housing 10 million people, so far. (Homes that can often be put up for less than $2,000 in the Third World, said Ms. Mills.) Habitat’s goal: Adequate housing for everyone — in the world. Note: I couldn’t help but think how many of us in America will spend $2,000 on frivolous things — the car with additional options, the leather couches, air conditioning for a year, a $2,000 casket… — when that money could house a whole family in Uganda and maybe mean the difference between a little child in that family dying or not. How spiritually nuts have we become?